USPS will raise the price of a Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents on Sunday, July 12. The increase of 4 cents is part of a broader move that will lift mailing services product prices by about 4.8% overall.
For anyone mailing a letter, the change is immediate and simple to feel. Metered 1-ounce letters will rise from 74 cents to 78 cents, domestic postcards will move from 61 cents to 65 cents, and a 1-ounce international letter will go from $1.70 to $1.75. The extra-ounce charge for single-piece letters will stay at 29 cents, keeping one part of the price sheet unchanged even as the main rates climb.
The timing matters because the new prices arrive after USPS filed its intent to raise them on April 9 and after the Postal Regulatory Commission approved the increase on May 27. USPS said it was using all available tools, including its pricing authority, to keep serving the public and meeting its universal service obligation. The agency last raised prices in July 2025, when the Forever stamp moved from 73 cents to 78 cents. When the stamp was introduced in 2007, it cost 41 cents.
That history gives the latest increase a sharper edge. The Postal Regulatory Commission’s financial analysis report on May 21 found a $2.7 billion net loss for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025, and said the agency has not had a profitable year in the last decade. USPS says the price changes are necessary because of a severe financial crisis and rising operational costs, but the commission’s own figures show a service that has spent years in the red.
The result is a familiar one for households and businesses that still rely on mail: more paid per item, with no sign the pressure on USPS is easing. The new rates take effect Sunday, July 12, and the Forever stamp will again do what it is designed to do — cover the current 1-ounce first-class rate, whatever it happens to be.
